


Molting Season

by CassieWritesDestiel



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angel Wings, Angel/Demon Relationship, Beekeeper Cain (Supernatural), Bees, Canon Related, Canon Universe, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Lucain - Freeform, Lucain Bigbang 2018, M/M, Mark of Cain, No Smut, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Wing Molt, feathers - Freeform, they adopt a cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-14 04:32:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 11,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16485974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CassieWritesDestiel/pseuds/CassieWritesDestiel
Summary: Because of a wing molt, Lucifer can’t fly and seeks shelter at Cain’s house, who is wary of his new visitor. But as old memories resurface how can they resist their unique connection? Maybe this is just what they needed to heal old wounds.





	1. Realization

Lucifer sensed the angel before he saw him. “Anpiel,” he whispered his name, a smile playing on his lips in excitement about the fight that lay ahead. 

“Lucifer,” the angel now stated behind him. The devil turned around to be met by a fierce face and a raised angel blade. Lucifer smiled at him, but raised an eyebrow at the angel blade. 

“You really think that’s necessary?” he asked, his smile turning smug on his face. 

“Yes,” Anpiel nodded. 

“You know, I could just snap my fingers and you’d be dead.” 

“You haven’t done it yet,” the angel said with confidence. 

“Yet,” the devil spoke at the exact same moment as the angel, stressing the word in doing so. Lucifer was already bored. He let his own angel blade slip out of his sleeve. “But you’re right, that would be boring,” he added and attacked his brother. 

Anpiel put on a good fight, though he was a bit startled by Lucifer’s attack as he, for some odd reason, hadn’t expected the devil to actually fight back. Big mistake. Lucifer traced the outline of his brother’s wings on the ground with his eyes. They had been great, majestic even after the fall. There were feathers lying around on the battlefield, a few light brown feathers of his brother from when Lucifer had grazed one of his wings with his weapon, but also bright pink feathers from his own wings, which was odd. Lucifer frowned and went over the events of the fight again in his head. Not once had Anpiel’s angel blade even been close to Lucifer’s wings and he sure as hell didn’t feel the stinging pain of a wound caused by an angel blade between his feathers. Maybe they were just some loose feathers being shaken out of his plumage by the movements of the fight, but something deep inside him told him that wasn’t the case. Or rather, not completely. There were too many pink feathers scattered on the ground. 

Lucifer stood in silence for a moment. The soft, almost too quiet to hear sound of a feather meeting the dry leaves on the ground led Lucifer turn his head to his right. Triggered by the sudden movement, another plume left his bottom right wing and joined its predecessor on the ground. Lucifer stared at them. That… that couldn’t be! Why were feathers leaving him, thinning out his majestic wings? Panic arose inside of him, as a thought made its way from deep down into his attention. This thought didn’t help to soothe his racing mind, not at all, but it explained it all. Lucifer was in his wing molt. 

Angels’ wings molt about every 100 years, when they are on earth. It happens even less frequently in heaven because time is more fluid there. During a wing molt an angel can’t fly, which meant that Lucifer now had to find a safe environment. He wasn’t helpless when it came to fight the occasional opponent chasing after him, but not being able to fly was more than just a great disadvantage. It meant that he couldn’t change his position on earth or only rather slowly and in human ways, which made it difficult and burdensome to cover up the traces he left behind. If heaven found out where he was, they would send more than just a few angels after him and Lucifer doubted that he was strong enough to withstand heaven’s powers for long. Being unable to fly was dangerous and Lucifer wouldn’t accept it. In all his time in the cage he only once had had a wing molt, and it hadn’t even been a real one. Time in hell was fluid in so many other forms than in heaven and on Earth and Lucifer hadn’t had a real physical form for all this time. Why must this happen to him? He only was back on Earth for a few months now, which was not even close to 100 years.  _ “Because you hadn’t have a proper wing molt in centuries…,”  _ a voice whispered in the back of his head. As much as he wished he could just ignore this voice, Lucifer had to agree with it. He sighed. Now he needed a safe house, which wasn’t easy to find, seeing as he is the literal devil. 

Walking away from the battlefield, he pondered about where to go. He couldn’t really think of anywhere that fit his notion of a secure shelter. Heaven wasn’t an option, they would lock him up. Hell also wasn’t a good idea, because being in his wing molt meant some sort of weakness and just any tiny sign of vulnerability was dangerous down there. No place on earth met his expectations either, or did it? Maybe there was someone he would be safe with… no. Lucifer instantly forbid this thought to himself. He couldn’t go there. For all he knew, Cain would be pissed at him. For all he knew, Cain had changed. Lucifer hadn’t thought of the father of murder in ages, at least that’s what he told himself. Truth was, the thought of Cain lingered in the back of his mind at any given time, always looking out for an opportunity to get his attention. It hurt to think about him, it hurt to think about the love he was robbed from when his father thought he was getting too dangerous for his oh so precious creation. He had disappeared from Cain’s life without any real explanation, without a goodbye. Surely, Cain had long since moved on from him. There was not the slightest possibility that Cain still loved him, yet the bitch called hope even found her home within the devil. 

Lucifer was still full of doubt, but he decided that this was his best shot. He closed his eyes, sensing the earth. Bend, Oregon, that’s where he currently was. But where was Cain? He let his thoughts and senses wander over the earth, through cities and forests, over wide fields and mountains, until he perceived an unusual murk that was the first sign of the powerful demon known as the father of murder. His darkness was fed by the Mark, and so painfully familiar to Lucifer. He had borne it himself for some time, until he had given it to Cain. They were bond by Mark, bond by the literal darkness it held captive with its mere existence. On a farm far off from any civilization in Missouri, that’s where he found him. Lucifer frowned at the image his senses produced: Cain, outside his house, tending bees in the garden. Had he really changed that much or were Lucifer’s senses just playing with him? Whatever it was, Lucifer knew it was the best shot at a safe house he could get. 

 


	2. The Flight

Lucifer opened his eyes and tended to his wings, carefully stretching them to their full glory. They didn’t look good, to be honest. More feathers got pulled towards the ground by gravity. He followed them with his eyes, before examining the places they fell from. His plumage already was dangerously thin in some places. Softly, he traced his fingers over his wings, searching for loose feathers. Some didn’t hold on to his wings very tightly anymore, they just waited for the touch of his fingers to fall down. Most of his flight feathers were still in place though, so he should be good to fly. The plumes lying around were mostly smaller and fluffy, the ones that warmed and build a soft protection on his wings. A few of his flight feathers were already getting loose and he hoped they would hold on during the flight. Lucifer folded his wings again, fluttered them a little and made himself ready for the flight. He knew he shouldn’t fly but he didn’t have much of a choice. So, he jumped and flapped with his wings a few times, until he was high enough for the wind to take him. 

Even though it looked like angels were teleporting when they changed their position with the help of their wings, they actually flew like any normal bird would. It just happened faster, fast enough to trick the human brain. Which didn’t take much of a trick because humans were so limited in their senses and so, so stupid because of it. All they received of the supernatural and even themselves were the obvious, superficial things. No wonder they were the perfect victims for all the monsters that roamed the Earth. 

This flight would take the devil longer than usual due to his wings being damaged. But his first worry was temporarily washed away by the magnificent feeling of being high up in the air. Lucifer loved to fly. He loved how the harsh brush of air against his feathers gave him some sense of freedom, loved the majestic feeling of unraveling his wings to their full glory. How he felt like the king of the world up there and no, the devil doesn’t make Titanic references. Up here in the air it was like nobody could ever bother him. This was the place he belonged in, high above all those little pathetic creatures his dad loved so much. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, taking this feeling in. The wind hit hard against his face, combing his hair back and messing it up at the same time. The sun shone bright against his features in an attempt to warm him up. The cold and fast flow of the air disregarded this attempt, and the warmth of the gas ball humans call the sun barely reached him. 

But soon enough doubts began to flood his mind and Lucifer focused on flying to try and keep them at bay. Only, it barely worked. His mind kept spiraling around the same thoughts. He distracted himself by checking his wings for any loose feathers. As he saw a feather betray him in breaking away from his plumage during the flight and spin slowly down to Earth, Lucifer stopped. He hadn’t thought about how he possibly left a trace of feathers behind on the places over which he flew. If so, they could find him even more easily. The feather was already too far below to catch it now, and Lucifer trusted the winds to carry it somewhere else down to the ground, where they wouldn’t know where he was, or at least he hoped so. He continued his flight, flapping his wings gentler against the wind to save his feathers from saying goodbye as much as he could. 

His journey took even longer than he thought it would, but now he finally spotted the house which was home to Cain. He landed in a flutter of feathers and Lucifer almost fell down to the ground as his wings gave in to gravity. There were too many feathers… too many feathers flying around loose in the air. Too many… Lucifer spotted small stains of blood in his wings, some still a bit bleeding.  _ ‘Shit…,’  _ he thought. He recomposed himself and folded his wings carefully behind his back, hoping the remaining feathers would stay in place, at least for now. 

Without the distraction of the flight, his thoughts became loud again, demanding attention and not helping in keeping his posture at all.  _ ‘What if he doesn’t want you around?’ _ a voice inside his head asked.

_ ‘Bullshit. I’m fun to be around,’ _ he silenced the voice, but Lucifer didn’t believe his own words. Only after a moment it creeped up on him once more and attacked him again. 

_ ‘What if he’s changed? You know he’s changed,’  _ the voice verbalized Lucifer’s greatest fear. ‘ _ What if he's changed and doesn’t want him anymore?’  _ He couldn’t help but think this over and over again. He would probably find out the answer sooner than he wanted, yet it had been thousands of years since he last saw him, and months since he got free again. He could’ve found out this way earlier than now, but there was no way of going back now. 

There was a man standing by the house in the distance, watching him. Lucifer recognized the fine figure of Cain with his broad shoulders. He was still a very handsome man, so much hadn’t changed. Actually, he was even more beautiful now. His face had been redefined by a beard and Lucifer loved it. His hair was dark gray and it still reminded him of storm clouds, wild and fierce, but Lucifer could tell that Cain now was a much calmer person. He had changed for sure. The darkness in his demon soul had been tucked away, or at least Cain tried to. Lucifer could feel the Mark on his arm and it screamed for blood, like it hadn’t been fed in centuries. The devil smiled as Cain started walking up to him, but then his doubts and fears demanded his attention again and his smile altered. What if Cain rejected him? He had all right to. What if he attacked him? Lucifer didn’t know if he was willing to fight back this particular demon. 

He hid his wings and the feathers lying around from the eyes of the demon as Cain approached him. It was one of the benefits of being an archangel that he was able to hide his wings from the eyes of supernatural beings.

 


	3. Reunion

The father of murder stopped a few steps away from the angel. He mustered him. With his demon sight he could make out the burned and red remains of a halo over the head of the vessel. His true form was shrunk and pressed inside the vessel, squeezing its brain. The soul of the poor human was long since gone. Of course Cain recognized the angel he once, long ago, called his love. Even though he never forgave him for the deal he had to take to save his brother, Lucifer made his stay in hell bearable.

His eyes wandered towards behind the angel, expecting to see his majestic wings, but his eyes were only met by blurriness. Lucifer hid his wings. Cain didn’t know the archangel was capable of doing so, but he imagined to know Lucifer well enough to know that he wouldn’t ever hide his wings. So, something was up. Not only that he dared to show up after all those centuries, he also was hiding his wings.

“Lucifer,” Cain spoke the archangel’s name, his eyes never leaving him, but they weren’t gentle like they used to be, back when they ruled hell together, they were watching him with mistrust.

“Cain,” Lucifer answered with a smile. He stretched out his arms to show off his body. “Missed me?” The blurry image of his wings stretched a bit too, probably out of habit as they weren’t meant to be seen. Cain rose one of his dark eyebrows at that. He didn’t answer.

Lucifer’s face fell a bit at the lack of reaction and the mistrust evident on Cain’s face. “Oh, come on, Candy-Cain, at least give me something I can work with!” he said, looking into his eyes more closely. Cain still didn’t answer. “No? Okay,” he shrugged. Cain could see through Lucifer. After all those years he could still see through his mask of sassy remarks and jokes. Lucifer was nervous, if not anxious, to stand here, in front of Cain.

“What do you want, Lucifer? And don’t call me Candy-Cain!”

Lucifer ignored the question. “Why? It’s cute just like you. A cute little pet name for my cute little father of murder.”

“I’m not cute,” Cain stated calmly with a low voice, and continued before Lucifer could say whatever he was planning to, “And I’m not yours.” Some hope in the devil’s eyes died and got briefly replaced by hurt before his eyes went blank again.

“Come on, Cain, I know you love me!” the expression on his face was merely there for show and Cain knew it. He knew he had set free some doubt inside his long-gone-lover.

“That was long ago, Lucifer,” Cain said, still calm.

 _‘When has he become so calm?’_ Luci wondered.

“Before you vanished for centuries without any goodbye or proper last words. Don’t you think I moved on?” Now, finally, some emotion snug its way into Cain’s voice.

Lucifer took a deep breath before he spoke the next words. He couldn’t believe he would actually say them, but it was only for Cain. “I’m sorry,” the devil told him and all Cain could do was stare. Lucifer never said sorry. He never apologized, not like this. Not like he actually meant it. “I’m sorry we never had a proper goodbye,” Lucifer continued. “But I didn’t have much of a chance. They locked me in the cage, I’m sure you know the story, there wasn’t really time to say goodbye to anyone.” Cain nodded to sign that he understood.

“But why did you never show up while you were free? Don’t lie and say you weren’t because I would recognize the dark energy of you anywhere, and it practically swamped the world when they first opened the cage.”

Lucifer looked down. “I’m sorry. I was … afraid that you changed, that you moved on. Besides, I had a little apocalypse to rise.” Cain rose an eyebrow. Should he really trust this? Lucifer wasn’t really behaving like himself with confessing all this stuff. But then again he never really lied. “You’re the only thing I really care about, I really love.”

“You love your brothers.”

“Don’t interrupt me and that’s something completely different and you know that. I still love you, Cain.” Cain’s impression finally softened.

“I already told you, Lucifer, I’ve moved on. What do you want?”

“Can I stay here? Just for a little while?” Lucifer asked with his best puppy eyes on. Cain sighed and then frowned.

“Why? You wouldn’t ask if there wasn’t a valid reason behind it.” Luci’s shoulders fell a bit and his wings were hanging behind his back.

“You know me so well, Cain,” he said. Cain was still suspicious.

“Care to explain?”

“Uh, it’s nothing really. You won’t be in trouble because of it, if that’s what’s bothering you.”

Cain mustered him and then nodded. He had decided, more out of the blue actually, over Luci’s case. “You can stay,” he said and Lucifer looked excited like a little child. “If,” he added “You don’t mess up anything.”

~~

“So, what happened? You said you moved on,” Lucifer asked as they settled down on the couch in the living room. Cain sipped on his tea. “Met someone else?” he jokingly added, hoping he was wrong about this. Cain looked up in surprise.

“Yeah, I did.” Lucifer chuckled to cover up how his heart fell at the confirmation. He looked away for a brief second, gathering together the will to actually ask.

“Who was it?” A smile settled on Cain’s face and Lucifer didn’t like it.

“Her name was Colette…” Instant hate at her bubbled up within Lucifer but he bit back any remark. “She knew who I was… _what_ I was. She loved me unconditionally. She forgave me.” Lucifer could see how much Cain loved her. How much he had craved her forgiveness for the terrible things he and his knights had done, how much he had craved her _love_. Because Lucifer hadn’t been there for him. He had been locked away in the cage, unable to communicate with the world even in the slightest. “She only asked for one thing,” Cain continued. “To stop.” The devil raised his eyebrow.

“So what, you simply stopped?”

“Oh, it wasn’t simple. It was a fight to control this, this _thing,_ ” He gestured towards the mark.

“I gave you this _thing_!” Lucifer said, hurt. “It was my first gift, remember?”

“I never asked for it,” Cain declared. “But I remember. I remember your smile and I remember the pain of the process of burning it into my skin. And you said…”

 _“True love hurts,”_ Lucifer repeated his words from so long ago. Ever since he first met Cain he felt bond to him. He felt understood, in some way, because the mark saw a worthy bearer in him. The worthiest of them all. Cain was still so calm and Lucifer still wondered how he managed it. Exercise, he guessed.

“What happened next?” the devil asked.

“The knights found out. They took retribution. They took Colette, so I picked the first blade back up. It felt so good to have it in my hands again, and I slaughtered the knights of hell.” The smile altered to the grin of a murderer and Lucifer approved of this change. “Abaddon was the last on my list. She possessed Colette when I found her. She begged me to come back to them, to _her._ ”

“Abaddon has always been a jealous bitch over you. For some reason she thought she was special, just because she was the first you trained. … You didn’t have something with her, did you?” Lucifer looked up in horror at the thought of Cain cheating on him with Abaddon of all people.

“No.” Cain seemed disgusted by the thought alone. “Abaddon started to torture Colette in front of my eyes to convince me, but I had promised… I wanted to kill her, but she began to leave Colette’s body and I leashed forward and stabbed her… I killed Colette. She wanted me to promise not to go after Abaddon, because there had been enough killing. It was her death wish, so I followed it. I buried her and walked away,” Cain ended his story.

“Wow, what a rollercoaster.” Cain looked up sharply and Lucifer surrendered. “Sorry.” They sat in silence for a moment. “And since then you haven’t killed? Like, at all?” Lucifer asked.

Cain shook his head, “No.”

“You didn’t get tempted or anything?”

“I threw the blade into the deepest ocean so it couldn’t tempt me.”

“Wow,” The archangel admitted. But there was one question still unanswered for the devil. “Cain, why did you decide to let me stay?”

“Company is nice,” Cain answered and Lucifer could feel the loneliness behind his words, “Once in a century.”

 


	4. Truth

Cain almost choked when he woke up. He had adapted the custom of sleeping while he was with Colette, to give her the feeling of normality. Some nights he would watch over her, and watch out for all the bad creatures out there, other nights he would lay down and sleep next to her. Cain sat up and sent feathers flying all over the place with the sudden movement. Frowning, he looked around. The bed was covered in feathers, and feathers were scattered all around on the floor. Lucifer, the only possible cause for this mess, was nowhere to be seen. 

Cain grunted and stood up. He found Lucifer in the kitchen by following the smell of fresh coffee. “Luci, why are there pink fluffy feathers all over my bed?” he asked, standing in the doorway to the kitchen. The angel sitting at the desk froze and didn’t look up. He was embarrassed but at the same time tried to contain the happiness over a simple thing like that Cain called him by a nickname. “Lucifer?” Cain asked again, but his voice was suddenly much closer, and Lucifer had to refrain from jumping. He hadn’t noticed Cain moving. 

“Hmm?” He answered, still not looking at him. Cain sighed and tried to meet his eyes, but Lucifer wouldn’t let it happen. The demon used his fingers to gently rise Lucifer’s chin, so that the devil would finally look at him. 

“Luci-Bear, what’s happening?” The father of murder asked with a soft voice. The only slightly visible fear in Lucifer’s eyes, fear of how Cain would react, got washed away by surprise as he recognized the nickname. Lucifer smiled, almost grinned even. Cain chuckled at his expression. 

It reminded the angel of a moment so heartbreakingly similar to this. Back then when they were still together, before dad had locked him away, back then when they ruled hell together and build their kingdom to their liking. It was one of their few soft moments in the throne room. Cain had just come from training the knights of hell. He had sat down on the armrest of the throne, sitting more in Lucifer’s lap than on the furniture. They had talked in hushed voices. Then, Cain had taken his chin in one hand, risen it up like now, had looked at him with love and admiration in his eyes and had kissed him. One hopeful part of Lucifer wished that Cain would lean down and kiss him like back then, but he knew that wouldn’t happen. 

Cain looked down at him now with a serious face. “Lucifer, why aren’t you showing me your wings?” he asked and the devil swallowed. 

It was shocking for Cain how fast he was back to old habits with the devil of all people, how fast he was in trusting him enough to let him stay here. Cain still didn’t fully know why he decided that Lucifer could stay. He hadn’t wanted anyone around him, mostly for the fear of being dragged into hell’s business again, for fear that he had to kill again even when he had promised Colette to stop. Cain wondered what Colette thought of him know, if she was watching over him. He frowned down at Lucifer. Something was different about the angel, he could tell, and it had to do with his wings. 

Lucifer tried to turn his head away but Cain wouldn’t let him. “Lucifer?” he asked again and the devil’s shoulders fell at the realization that he had to tell him. 

“It’s nothing,” he tried to deny, but under the demanding gaze of Cain’s eyes he couldn’t lie. “Fine,” he surrendered. Cain’s right eyebrow rose, waiting for him to continue. “I’m in wing molt,” Lucifer mumbled and Cain frowned. 

“What?” he asked and Lucifer repeated his words. “Wing molt?” Cain then inquired, dumbstruck. 

“Yeah, that’s when my feathers decide to leave me and make space for new ones,” he explained. “Stupid thing is, I can’t fly while my feathers change, so I needed a safe house” 

“Then why did you come here?” Cain asked, puzzled. 

“You’re the safest place I could think of,” Lucifer admitted and all Cain could do was stare at him in surprise. 

“Really? Why?” the demon wondered. 

“Uh, well, you’re a pretty powerful demon, you live here in the middle of nowhere, plus I still love you, so there’s pretty much nowhere better I could’ve found,” he stated. 

“What would you have done if I rejected you?” Cain asked, genuinely interested, ignoring the fact that Lucifer told him that he loves him for the second time already since he was here. 

“I… don’t know,” Lucifer answered. “You were my only shot to be honest.” 

“So, you came here without a plan B?” Cain interrogated and Lucifer nodded to confirm.  

“Pretty much yeah,” he admitted. 

“Can I see them?” Cain suddenly asked, but as Lucifer only showed confusion he added, “Your wings I mean.” The angel looked away, to the ground.  

“I don’t know… they’re kinda ugly.” Truth be told, he was embarrassed of the state his wings were in. They were supposed to be majestic and intimidating, but now they were half bald, unkempt and just ugly, and they reminded him of the condition his wings had been in after his fall, which by far wasn’t his gloriousest memory. 

“Who knew the devil is insecure about how he looks like?” Cain joked.  

“I got an image to save!” Lucifer defended himself. 

“But not in front of me, you know that, don’t you?” 

“I don’t know to be honest, you’re kinda hard to read at the moment.” Lucifer didn’t want to admit that maybe he was reading too much into Cain acting relaxed around him. 

Before Cain could respond a high-pitched sound disrupted them, coming from outside the house. They turned towards the window in one motion. The sound was to be heard again and Lucifer frowned as he recognized it. 

“Is that…?” he asked and Cain shrugged. 

“I think so.” 

The devil stood up and Cain followed him outside, searching for the origin of this high-pitched yet not all too alarming scream. They followed it as it sounded again and soon found the origin of it in one of the bushes in front of Cain’s house. There was a small, black and brown cat, which now looked up at them and meowed again. Lucifer gaped at it for a moment. 

“Well, hello there,” he greeted the kitten as it stood up and slowly approached him, carefully but at the same time not showing any real fear of the demon standing there with Satan himself. 

The cat’s soul was pure and young, but yet told of adventure and vagabondage, it was reckless and a survivor of the odds and dangers, of the cruelty of mother nature as it had stolen the kitten’s mother, but here it was right in front of them, living and breathing. 

The devil proceeded to pick up the young cat, holding it up to his face so he could look into its yellow eyes. Cain didn’t approve of that smile on Lucifer’s lips, even though it looked cute. It was the same smile with which he’d use to look at Ramsey and her puppies when she had some. The angel mustered the kitten, which only hissed a bit at the devil, showing its pointy teeth, and struggled a bit in Lucifer’s grip, almost scratching him in the process. 

“You’re a brave little boy, aren’t you?” He smiled at the cat. 

 


	5. Abel

Little did they know, the cat they had found last night was pretty special and that’s all due to its genetics, as it was a male tortoiseshell cat and those are usually female, in fact, male tortoiseshell cats are really rare.

This, of course, didn’t stop the kitten from laying on top of Lucifer as he was sunbathing outside Cain’s house. The cat purred while it cleaned itself, being surprisingly nonplussed that the concrete it was resting on was none other than the devil himself. Lucifer almost looked like he was sleeping with his eyes closed and this adorable smile on his face, his features being directly illuminated by the sun. This just added up to his beauty and Cain caught himself just staring for a moment before he remembered what he wanted to say.

“You could help me, you know?” Cain accused Lucifer of being lazy and quite frankly, he was right, but it’s not like Luce was offended by this statement. Lucifer opened the slits in his face a crack and looked over at him, an amused grin on display.

“Nah, I much rather just stay here in the sun and occasionally enjoy the view,” he answered and winked at Cain, who rolled his eyes at his old friend. “Besides, your bees don’t exactly like me.” Cain chuckled at that.

“You never really tried to make them like you,” he shot back and sprayed smoke on the next beehive to check on it. “Now stand up and come here!” the demon demanded. “If you want to stay here you gotta help now and then.”

“I can’t,” Lucifer bluntly answered, which resulted in Cain turning around again, barking out a surprised “What?” in the motion.

“I can’t,” he repeated, pointing at the cat on his belly. “I can’t stand up.”

Cain sighed, annoyed by the angel, but he knew he wouldn’t win. “Will you at least give your new buddy a name?”

Lucifer opened his eyes fully, moving his right arm over his head to cover them from the sun, and thoughtfully mustered the cat in its earthly colored pelt. The kitten seemed to sense the attention and looked up, right into Lucifer’s eyes with its yellow ones. Experimentally, the devil let his blue eyes lit up red, the eye color of his true form. The cat only moved its ears around a bit unsure but else was unfaced by the change in his eyes, it even began to walk up his chest. Lucifer chuckled.

“Abel,” he then decided, smirking at the cat. “Hello, Abel,” he greeted the newly named creature, a bit louder this time.

“You can’t name him Abel!” Cain protested and walked closer to the angel and the cat.

“Why not?” Lucifer innocently asked, genuine as ever. “I think he looks like an Abel.”

“Don’t you think I get to decide who looks like an Abel?” the father of murder countered.

“Of course,” Lucifer admitted, “but he’s curious like Abel, interested in things that should scare him, he’s got brown hair like Abel-“

“Partly,” Cain interrupted.

“Partly,” Lucifer acknowledged, “but the point is, he resembles Abel pretty much.”

Cain kneeled down next to them in order to look at the cat more closely. After a long minute of silence, he decided, “He does look like an Abel.”

Lucifer smirked at him in victory and pet the newly named cat’s head, which resulted in him increasing the volume of his purr.

“You could still help me,” Cain stated and grabbed the cat without a warning to get Lucifer to stand up, but Lucifer hold onto him and then wrapped his wings around the cat to keep him safe from the demon. Cain stared at Lucifer, more so at the wings which just manifested in front of him, open-mouthed. He could still see the beauty and glory in his wings, some of the missing feathers were already beginning to be replaced by new light pink plums peeking out and claiming their place in Lucifer’s plumage.

The devil watched Cain, unsure what to make out of his reaction. The world had gone still around them and even Abel stopped purring as he peeked out under the feathers and watched them both. Cain’s surprised expression turned into a smile and Lucifer frowned. He looked down at his wings, they were so damaged, ugly,  _ imperfect _ , but Cain’s expression told another story. Most of Lucifer’s feathers were missing now, and there were already some new growing, Lucifer guessed that it sped up his molt a bit that he lost so many feathers due to the flight to Cain’s house, though most of his big flight feathers had yet to fall out in order to make space for the new and fresh feathers. He really didn’t know why he showed Cain his wings, especially in this state, it had been more of a spontaneous, thoughtless and rash action, and he almost regretted it, but now he wouldn’t have to wonder anymore how Cain would react.

Lucifer carefully mustered Cain for any sign of disgust about his wings, but he found none, only wonder and what seemed like pride that Luci trusted him enough to show his wings to him in this state.

“You don’t think they’re ugly?” he asked and Cain looked up in surprise.

“I’ve always liked your wings, Luce, and a wing molt is just a restoration of them,” Cain explained and gently brushed over the feathers, causing one to fall down. Lucifer looked at it in betrayal and Cain laughed, moving his hand away from the feathers and cupping Luce’s cheek, which made the devil look up in surprise at the tender action. They stared into each other’s eyes for a moment before Abel meowed a protest and ruined their perfect moment, which not only Luci imagined to become more. 

Abel meowed again and Lucifer shot him an irritated glare. He poked the kitten’s ear with his finger and Abel responded by chasing after his hand and as he caught it, he bit into it. Lucifer quietly cried out in pain, purely caused by the surprise over it of course, and pouted at the cat.

“You do realize we need cat food for him,” Cain informed Lucifer as he watched the devil and the kitten.

Lucifer teared his gaze away from the kitten and looked at Cain as he realized he hasn’t thought this through and Cain was right. “Well, we could steal it somewhere?” he suggested. “How hard can it be to get some food?”

Cain sighed. “You have no idea how the human world works, do you?” he asked and slightly shook his head at him. “No stealing, Luci.”

“But…,” Lucifer began to contradict but stopped as he needed to think of a good argument. “You sometimes come home with food even though you don’t need it. How do you get that?”

“I buy it,” Cain explained while rolling his eyes.

“Don’t you need money for that?” Lucifer did know something about the human world and that was that everything often was about money, some may even say it is the root of all evil and as the devil he had to know about that, besides many crossroad deals asked for money, not that he ever really cared about the deals.

“Yes, I do,” Cain answered as if telling a five-year-old.

“But how do you get the money? Do you steal it?” Lucifer asked and Cain sighed. “Tell me the details!” the angel now demanded. “Do they make hilarious faces when they find out?”

“I don’t steal, Luci-Bear,” Cain stated. The nickname made Lucifer shut up and give Cain all the attention because it was still surprising to hear and he loved it when Cain used it. Cain chuckled at the reaction. “I sell honey,” he clarified.

Lucifer blinked at him in confusion. “That makes a living?” he asked.

“I don’t need much,” Cain answered.

 


	6. Us

Cain watched Lucifer sitting on the couch with Abel on his lap, which reminded him of the old days, when Lucifer would cuddle with Ramsey’s little puppies, watched by the trusting and careful eyes of the hellhound, or when Ramsey was the one occupying the place on which Lucifer sat and it resulted in her laying on top of him. There had always been this smile on his face, one that spoke of love and happiness, a smile Lucifer never wore except for those special moments or, if Cain was lucky, he’d wear it in his presence.

Lucifer was beaming and it set free a peacefulness within Cain, which he didn’t know of altogether or he forgot that it existed. It was like a long lost memory, one of those glorified memories of the good old days, when everything was better and less complicated, when everything was okay and you didn’t need to worry about anything. Well, not everything had been okay back then, Cain had just become the father of murder, but with Lucifer he had been surprisingly happy because he made him forget about his deeds.

Cain smiled, but then it changed into a frown. How was it possible that he smiled about Lucifer being here, where had all the grudge gone, where all the mistrust? It was scary how they were back in their old habits in almost no time and nobody actually minded this, but not only that, Cain was daydreaming and he hadn’t been daydreaming since Colette died. He hadn’t noticed, or maybe he was in denial about it, but since Lucifer was here Cain was happier and more relaxed. It was odd. He had believed he was better off alone, far off from somewhere other demons would find him. It was to everyone’s safety. With noone around nobody could tempt him to kill. But with Lucifer here he was happier than he had been in centuries, even though he didn’t show it. There was a kind of relief inside of him since he the archangel turned up at his door.

“Cain?” Lucifer spoke his name carefully, and as Cain blinked and his eyes focused on the devil he chuckled. “You kinda zoned out there,” he explained at the question in the demon’s eyes.

“Sorry,” Cain mumbled and Lucifer grinned at him.

“Were you dreaming about me?” he asked with laughter in his eyes, but also love if Cain wasn’t mistaken. Cain chuckled at him and walked the few steps over to the couch.

“I wasn’t dreaming about you,” he declared.

“Ha, keep lying to yourself, I know you were!” There was a spark in the devil’s eyes, one he hadn’t seen since… well, since they raised a hell together.

“Whatever you say, Luce,” Cain answered, drifting off into his thoughts again.

“What got you all dreamy?” Lucifer inquired, now in a serious tone. “Do I need to worry?” he added and Cain frowned. What would he need to worry about?

“I was just… thinking about us,” he admitted after a long pause. This made Lucifer look up and turn towards Cain, his eyes wide in a mix of emotions he soon tried to hide.

“About us? Does that mean there’s an ‘us’ again?” he demanded to know in a cute and all too naïve voice which didn’t really fit to him.

“Yes, of course there’s an ‘us’,” Cain answered, holding Luci’s stare unblinkingly.

Lucifer squinted his eyes as if trying to spot the lie, but as he couldn’t find one, he pushed Abel, who hissed in protest, from his lap to stand there exactly in front of Cain. “Really?” he asked and Cain chuckled because it was unbelievable how insecure the devil was in this matter.

“Really.” The father of murder assured him with a slight smirk on his lips.

All of the sudden, Lucifer leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to Cain’s lips, too brief for Cain to realize it happened while it lasted. He was speechless and Lucifer looked down, almost embarrassed, hoping he hadn’t ruined anything as he tended to do.

As Cain finally processed what happened, Lucifer was about to turn to go but a hand on his shoulder hold him back. He opened his mouth to say something, to apologize if needed, but any words were only mumbled sounds as his lips were suddenly covered by Cain’s and he immediately kissed back, all the worries forgotten. He closed his eyes to savor this feeling and then he was back in hell with Cain by his side and no demon dared to interrupt them while they were together, no demon in their right mind anyway because disrupting them didn’t end well usually. It was like no time had passed and Cain was still his right hand man and Lucifer was still the king he deserved to be.

They parted and Lucifer was catapulted back into the present and into reality. He grinned like a mad man and without him noticing his wings had manifested and he wrapped them around Cain to hold him close. Their foreheads touched and there was this special tension in the air that they couldn’t really decipher even if they tried. It was love and calmness and all the suppressed emotions of way too many years rushing in on them again, like the kiss had just resurrected them. Lucifer stifled a laugh at how idiotic they both were and Cain smiled, taking in the softness of the feathers surrounding him. Sure, there was more air reaching him than he remembered but Lucifer’s wings were still in molt so Cain didn’t mind. He had always loved Lucifer’s wings, he loved to let his fingers wander over them when Lucifer was lying or sitting next to him, he loved it when Lucifer used the sheer size of his wings to build a cave around them, like he did now. His wings were walls that kept them from reality and it was just them both, nobody else existed or mattered when they were together under the cover of Lucifer’s plumage.

Abel joined them by nudging their legs while loudly purring, his soft fur tickling whatever naked skin it reached. Cain chuckled and tried to step away but Lucifer hold him close and begged him, “Stay,” so he did. Lucifer’s arms rested on Cain’s shoulders as they kissed again, careful and testing, but nonetheless loving, like a soft breeze caressing one’s skin on a hot day. No further words were spoken and they weren’t essential, they already knew what the other thought, and the unspoken “I love you” hanging in the air wasn’t needed to be verbalized to be understood.

After a while, Abel began to get bored with his chosen owners as they ignored him and didn’t even move, they just stood there in each other’s embrace and stared at each other with a big grin on their faces. He meowed and as this didn’t get a reaction out of them, he began to climb up Lucifer’s trousers. This made Lucifer giggle and Cain laughed, but still they didn’t break their hug. Lucifer looked down at the cat and just watched it, interested in how high it would climb. Cain observed the scene as well, and the peace he had felt earlier hadn’t left him. This was his new old family and it was happy.

“Let’s get you something to eat, shall we?” he asked Abel and the cat meowed in agreement, but didn’t stop clambering up Lucifer’s body, he had now almost reached his hip, securing himself with his sharp claws.

“No, stay,” Lucifer demanded, holding Cain in place next to him. Cain chuckled at him and went to remove his fingers from his shirt, but Lucifer kept clutching on them. “Please, stay.” There was a sincerity in the angel’s eyes that surprised Cain, it was like a beg for closeness and love, a beg not to be abandoned anymore. Cain looked into his blue eyes with sympathy and his lips raised in a smile of love.

“I’m not going anywhere, Luci-Bear,” he promised and Lucifer seemed to relax. He pressed his body against Cain’s in a tight hug before he let him go, but his hand traveled down his arm to Cain’s hand and he hold it while they went to get Abel his food, which Cain bought yesterday.

~~

This night, as Cain went to sleep, Abel joined him and as Lucifer came in he was greeted by the cat lying next to a snoring father of murder, purring loudly in the embrace of Cain’s arms, who never liked the cat outwardly but now Abel had chosen him and vibrated his arm. Lucifer stopped in his tracks at the beautiful sight and awed a little, which made Abel look up towards him, the cat’s yellow eyes glowing a bit in the dark as they caught the light coming in from the hallway. Abel quietly meowed and then struggled to get out from under Cain’s arm, but as Lucifer entered the room he changed his mind and remained in his place.

“Hey, buddy,” Lucifer greeted the cat and ruffled him behind the ears, to which Abel responded by leaning into the touch and increasing the volume of his purring that before had died down a little. Cain shifted and Lucifer observed him before he shushed the cat and laid down next to them. “Let’s try this,” he mumbled to himself and closed his eyes.

 


	7. Bee Sting

The day was beautiful with the sun high in the sky and only a few clouds disturbing the blue above. Cain and Lucifer sat outside, looking over the land, while Abel laid in their shadow, hiding from the otherworldly warmth that was too hot for the cat today. A few bees buzzed around them and Lucifer squinted his eyes whenever one came too close in its flight.

“You’re not afraid of bees, are you?” Cain laughed as he noticed how Luci looked at his bees.

“They don’t like me,” Lucifer responded while following a bee zigzagging in the air with his eyes, staring at it like he suspected it of doing a crime. Cain snorted.

“As long as you’re not a threat to them they don’t really care about you,” he explained.

“Well, that’s just kinda rude,” the angel pouted, and Cain wrapped his arm around him. Lucifer relaxed and leaned into him, resting his head on his shoulder in the process. “You’re still the best pillow,” he admitted and smiled as the shoulder shook with the vibration of laughter that rolled through Cain’s body, almost gliding away from underneath his cheek but Cain steadied himself pretty fast and tried not to disturb Lucifer on his shoulder too much.

After Cain calmed down his head settled on top of Lucifer’s and so they sat for a while, half cuddling and in peace were it not for the occasional bee. Abel fell asleep behind them, a warm body against Lucifer’s lower back.

Everything was fine until a bee landed on Lucifer’s right hand and he freed his left hand from in between them to subconsciously move it over his hand to get rid of whatever tickled him there, but his hand collided with the bee which angrily buzzed off before it landed again and to eliminate the threat, it stung Lucifer, who was still trying to drive the bee away. He cried out at the sudden sensation of a sting being stabbed into his vessel’s skin and he wasn’t prepared as the wound burned with pain. The bee escaped only to die moments later.

Cain was quick to react too as he hold Lucifer, who had jumped to his feet and stared in anger at his swollen finger, to calm him down. “Do you see what your precious bee did to me? It bit me!” Luci exclaimed.

“It’s stung, Luci-Bear, bees don’t bite,” Cain replied calmly, trying to get this furious spark out of his eyes.

“Shut up, smartass!” the devil snarled at him, struggling against Cain’s grip on him to get past him to the beehives to take his revenge. “Let me through!” he demanded but Cain shook his head.

“No, Luci, don’t!”

“Why not?” he asked, his anger now turning into a dangerously calm state of rage.

“If you do this, you’ll not only be littered by even more stings, but you’ll also not be welcome here anymore,” Cain set him an ultimatum and the devil’s eyes grew wide as he realized that Cain would choose his bees over him.

“You’d throw me out?” he asked in disbelief.

“Yes, I would. Do I have your attention now?” Lucifer nodded and looked down like a kicked puppy. Meanwhile Abel wandered off to explore the garden after he was involuntarily woken up by all the trouble. Cain reached for Lucifer’s injured hand and the angel willingly gave it to the demon, who had a lot more experience with these things. “I’ll have to remove the sting,” Cain explained before he carefully grabbed it with two fingers and pulled it out of the wound. Lucifer hissed at the sensation but remained still otherwise, but as soon as Cain let his hand go he inspected it closely, which made Cain chuckle. “You’re the devil, why are you so whiny about a bee sting?” he asked.

“Because it hurts!” Lucifer answered as he watched the wound close itself. Cain laughed and the angel pouted and turned away to hide his expression from Cain, who just watched him with a big grin because he looked adorable like this.

“Aw, come here, Luci,” Cain said but Lucifer refused.

“No,” he replied and folded his arms.

“Why not?”

“You’d choose your bees over this masterpiece,” Lucifer explained, referring to himself as god’s greatest work. Cain chuckled and then stepped forward towards him, wrapped his arms around the angel and before Lucifer could complain, there were lips pressed to his. The devil was completely taken by surprise and as he realized what this more than pleasant feeling was, it was over again.

“You…,” he began, ripped from his grumpiness. Cain watched him with a sly smile. “You just played the devil. That’s impressive,” Lucifer admitted and Cain sniggered.

“I did learn something from you.”

Lucifer looked proud and then leaned in to reunite their lips, but Cain broke away before it became more than a quick peck. A noise of complaint made its way out of the angel’s throat as he dived in again to kiss him, but once more Cain ended the kiss after only a short time. Lucifer opened his eyes as he felt the demon’s hot breath against his lips, close but always out of reach as he chased after Cain’s lips. Lucifer huffed frustrated, but he wasn’t angered because Cain was the one person allowed to do this without any consequences. Well, almost none.

The angel deliberately wrapped his arms around his lover and hold him close, body pressed against body, leaning in for a kiss but stopping shortly before their lips met. Instead, he let his breath wander over Cain’s cheek towards his ear. “Stop teasing me!” he demanded in a dark whisper directly into Cain’s ear. A shiver ran down the demon’s spine which didn’t escape Lucifer’s notice and he smirked. He sheathed his earlobe with his lips and softly pulled on it before he tenderly kissed his way down to Cain’s mouth, but stopped as he reached the corner of his mouth. Now it was Cain’s turn to be frustrated and he lunged forward to kiss this awful grin from Lucifer’s face. Cain’s arms twined around Lucifer’s neck to prevent him from escaping the kiss, not that Lucifer had anything like this in mind, quite the opposite actually.

The kiss soon became heated and as their lips pressed harder against the other in their movements, Lucifer’s hands traveled down Cain’s back and came to a halt on his hips. Their eyes were closed and their lips demanded closeness, so they stood there in each other’s embrace, bodies touching and slowly becoming one in the kiss. All it took was one unsteady step back and they fell down, one on top of the other.

 


	8. A Lost Cat

During the night, it began to storm. Lucifer listened to the splatter of rain as it drummed against the window, only disrupted by thunder so loud and near that it made the whole house shudder, but the only sound he actually cared about was Cain softly snoring next to him. Lighting shone through his eyelids as he listened to his love as if it was the most beautiful music of all time, and he felt the rise and fall of his chest next to him. Lucifer smiled, he genuinely smiled like he hadn’t done since the old times, or maybe even like he had never done before because he couldn’t recall a time he felt like this, so relieved, safe, happy and just loved. There was a certain peace in laying here, next to the one he loved, and just listening to his soft breaths and snores as he slept the time away. Lucifer couldn’t sleep, but he didn’t require to, too, so that was okay.

Another lightning stroke and the devil opened his eyes. He lovingly looked over to Cain, watched his eyes move underneath his eyelids and chuckled as he noticed the slobber in the corner of Cain’s mouth. The peaceful smile on Cain’s lips was mirrored in Lucifer’s face. Outside, a storm raged like the sky waged war with the ground, but inside there was peace and that wouldn’t change so soon.

Lucifer didn’t know how long he spent watching Cain sleep, but as he finally woke up, the storm had died down a bit, it was still raining but the thunder and lightning was gone and the sky wasn’t as dark anymore, it was a light grey, yet the sun still struggled to get its light through the clouds. The storm had clouded the sunrise, but it couldn’t dim Lucifer’s own, personal sunrise. Cain shifted before he slowly blinked open his eyes. “Morning, sunshine, ” Lucifer greeted him and Cain yawned, showing off his teeth. The demon mumbled something and closed his eyes again, visibly unwilling to leave the bed anytime soon. “Come on, Candy-Cain, you’ve slept enough,” the devil said while poking his side, but Cain just groaned in response. Lucifer watched him for a moment, before he leaned down and planted a kiss on his lips. Cain smiled as he kissed back. “Wake up, princess.”

Cain opened his eyes and stared at him. “Did you just call me princess?” he asked and Lucifer chuckled.

“I just woke you up with a kiss,” he responded.

“Fair point,” Cain admitted and sat up. They left the bedroom together to start the day, even though Lucifer tried to persuade Cain to stay with another kiss, but Cain just laughed and stood up. He offered the devil a hand and pulled him to his feet and so they exited the room.

“Where’s Abel?” Lucifer asked some time later, frowning as he couldn’t find the cat anywhere, and he hadn’t been there when they left the bedroom this morning. By now, Abel would’ve definitely been asking them for food with an obnoxious meow, but there was not even as much as the fur ball lying around somewhere in their way. Cain looked up and shook his head.

“I don’t know, I haven’t seen him all day.” He didn’t seem particularly worried about the cat, but Lucifer was and so he decided to search for him.

“I’ll look whether he’s outside,” he informed Cain.

“It’s still raining,” Cain warned him but the angel didn’t listen. Water was pouring from the sky as Lucifer stepped outside. He searched the bushes around the house, then he went on to every possibly hideout the cat could have. The rain began to annoy the angel as it continued to spill out all over his face, and so he manifested his wings to at least have some protection, even though now it were his wings that got soaked.

After an unsuccessful hour searching for the cat, he ran out of places he imagined Abel could be and his patience died down as the sky’s tears continued to rain down on him. He went back to Cain’s house, only to be met by the tortoiseshell cat at the doorstep. Abel stood up as he recognized the angel and greeted him with an accusing meow, to which Lucifer responded with a hateful glare. “Meow,” he growled at the cat.

“Found him!” Lucifer shouted as he entered the house, accompanied by Abel. Cain came with a blanket, like a true caring husband would, and enveloped Lucifer in it to dry him up.

“Where was he?”

“On the doorstep,” Lucifer grumpily answered and Cain laughed.

“Why are you so wet then?” he asked while rubbing over his hair with the cloth.

“Because at first he wasn’t there,” he explained and attempted to escape from Cain’s caressing fingers through the blanket, because he was still grumpy and he could do this on his own, thank you very much. Cain wouldn’t let go of this task however so only minutes later, Lucifer was sitting on the couch with Cain behind him carefully drying his wings. The angel would lie when he said he didn’t enjoy the tender touch and Cain still knew, even after all this time, which spots the most sensitive were.

They sat in silence, with only the soft tension of cloth against feathers between them and the cluttering sound of Abel devouring his food in the background. “How far are they?” Lucifer suddenly asked and Cain stopped his movements at that and took his time to answer. He slowly ran over the feathers with his fingers to observe the plumage more closely.

“They’re almost done,” Cain finally answered, but there was something hesitant in his answer, as if he wasn’t at all happy at this turn of events. Lucifer looked over his shoulder and quickly inspected his wings himself. It was true, there were only one or two flight feathers missing, and there was not a single plum caught in the blanket Cain’s hand clenched around in a fist. There was a sad expression on the demon’s features and he looked away as the devil looked at him. Lucifer fully turned around and placed his hand over Cain’s to make him look at him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked Cain in a gentle tone.

“You’re going to leave me,” Cain answered and Lucifer’s heart stopped for second at the brokenness in this statement. “You’re going to leave me once your wings are fully healed.” The devil was at a loss of words because yes, that had been the original plan, but after everything that happened he wasn’t so sure about it anymore. He didn’t know whether he could simply leave Cain, but then again, there was a throne waiting for him in hell, the rightful place for a person like him.

“I…,” he started, but at the look in Cain’s clear blue eyes he stopped.

“Don’t,” Cain told him. “Don’t deny it, I know you will. I was just stupid enough to make myself forget about it,” Cain said and left, fleeing from the situation without looking back at the angel on his couch, who felt like he had just been slapped in the face.

 


	9. Family

The day of parting came earlier than they expected, and even though Cain had tried to keep the heartbreak to a minimum, he still wasn’t ready. He hated the longing look with which Lucifer looked at him whenever he thought he didn’t see him, but Cain couldn’t get any closer to the devil, it would just hurt them both, so he kept his distance. It broke Lucifer’s heart that he did this, all this because the angel simply couldn’t make the promise to stay. But even though they knew what would happen, neither of them really was ready.

Cain stood there in the doorway as the angel readied himself for the flight, Abel was at the demon’s side, silently observing the scene. “You’re really going to leave?” Cain asked as if he didn’t make this realization days ago, but now it became real and that hurt on a whole different level.

“I have a hell to raise,” Lucifer explained, but it just sounded like a poor excuse. The throne of hell was his rightful place, he was meant to rule, and when he couldn’t rule heaven or earth, he ruled hell, it was his very own creation after all, but he’d work on increasing his power, it had been his dream and ambition for a very long time now and he wouldn’t give up on it.  “You could come with me,” he offered, almost smiling at the idea, “It could be like in the old times, remember? When we ruled hell together?”

Cain shook his head. “You ruled hell and I was your knight,” he corrected him.

“Come with me,” the angel pleaded, but Cain declined.

“No. I’m done with all this and I don’t want to be dragged into it again,” he explained.

“You wouldn’t have to do anything you don’t like, just sit next to me on the throne,” Lucifer promised but they both knew that was a half-lie.

“I can’t, Lucifer,” Cain said and for the first time in this conversation, their eyes met. “I promised it to someone,” he whispered and Lucifer knew he lost.

“I guess this is goodbye then.”

“Farewell, Lucifer,” Cain spoke. “Good luck in hell,” he wished him and Lucifer nodded a thanks. It broke his heart as he said his goodbye and then opened his wings to their full glory, which suddenly seemed so dull compared to what he was leaving behind. Lucifer jumped into the air and let the wind take him to his destination.

Cain walked back in. All of the sudden, his house felt so empty without the annoying angel in it, and he never realized how truly lonely he was here until Lucifer had showed him. It had been tempting to accompany Lucifer but he knew he couldn’t, it was better for everyone. He sat down on the couch and Abel joined him, looking up at him with big eyes before he nudged his hand in a demand to get petted.

“Now he’s gone,” he told him and then shook his head because he was talking to cat. A purr erupted from the small creature as he ran his hand over his pelt, made to comfort Cain, but it only reminded him of how fond the angel was of the cat.

Cain went on in his daily life, trying to get back into his routine from before the devil showed up, only that he now had to care for a cat, too, and there was this nagging feeling he couldn’t get rid of. He missed Lucifer, missed him next to him in bed, missed how he complained about his bees, missed how he cared about Abel and missed his teasing ways to kiss him. The house suddenly was emptier than it had been for all the time he lived here, or maybe he just never realized it. But Lucifer had decided against him and it felt like a stab in the chest.

His bees were a comfort in all of this, because they kept on buzzing around the land as if nothing happened, they still were busy making honey and caring for their hive, and when Cain looked after them he was able to forget for a moment.

It had only been a few days since Lucifer left but to Cain it felt like forever. The demon looked up in surprise and confusion at the flutter of wings in his kitchen and he tensed up, his first thought went to the devil, what if he came back? But then he cleared his mind from all distraction and he was ready to fight the intruder, all his worries forgotten. He quietly stood up and sneaked up on the being, hiding at first to observe his enemy, before he could plan an effective attack. However, the first thing he saw before entering his kitchen was pink and Cain almost stopped on the spot as he recognized the color.

“I thought you left?” he asked the angel and he turned around with a big grin dominating his face, clearly sure that there’d be no consequences whatsoever to him simply coming back, he probably thought Cain would just take him back and that it was this easy.

“I can’t leave without everything packed, can I?” Lucifer responded and Cain frowned.

“You don’t have any baggage,” he declared, not sure where this conversation was heading, but he could imagine that it’d be some way to convince him.

“I have you, that’s more important,” the angel explained and Cain raised his eyebrow.

“Is that your way of telling me that you love me?”

“It’s my way of telling you that existence is better with you,” Lucifer replied, which practically meant the same, but on a deeper level. It meant that he didn’t want to bear not being around him, that he missed him, maybe even as much as Cain missed him.

“Right,” Cain said, still playing distant and cold, while inside he couldn’t believe that Lucifer came back, and he didn’t dare to think that it was as simple as that Lucifer wanted to stay with him.

“You’re not going to make this easy for me, are you?” Lucifer groaned, but smiled at Cain’s response, because that’s what he deserved for leaving, that’s what he deserved for not being able to make the right decision beforehand. Only as he flew he had realized that maybe he couldn’t leave Cain, and hell had been too boring to distract him from this truth, so he took off again, without any explanation towards his minions so he probably caused some chaos there, and came back to Cain.

“No,” the father of murder assured him but there was a smile in his voice, some happiness he couldn’t keep in because Lucifer came back to him.

“I wouldn’t think any less from my first knight,” Lucifer told him and even hinted to bow before the demon, who nodded a slight gratitude towards him.

“I missed you,” Cain admitted, showing some vulnerability before the devil, but he knew he could trust him.

“So did I,” Lucifer answered and stepped forward. They looked at each other, their eyes spoke of hope and longing, of heartbreak and, in Cain’s case, a bit betrayal, but it wasn’t enough to keep them from each other and soon enough they collided in a bone crushing hug. Eventually, their lips met and everything was good again.

~~

It was a beautiful day, the sun stood high in the blue sky, and on the grass, there laid an angel, his six bright pink wings stretched out to feel the warmth coming from above. Lucifer had his eyes closed and a smile on his face, happy to be home.

Cain watched him from where he was standing in between his beehives, secretly admiring his boyfriend. His wings shimmered as the feathers reflected the sunlight, glittering in a variety of pink hues, from soft wings in the color of rose petals to a bright and distinct pink, which looked almost artificial. They gave off a slight glow and so Lucifer was not only bathed in the bright sun but also in the soft gleam of his wings.

Abel was chasing a butterfly around the garden, jumping and running after it in a wild zigzag, and as it landed on one of Lucifer’s biggest plums, Abel leaped right on top of it. The butterfly escaped but the wing moved to get rid of whatever had the dignity to walk right onto them. Abel meowed in horror as the wing raised into the air, and he tried to hold onto but his claws couldn’t find a place to stick on, so the cat dropped to the ground. Cain laughed at the cat’s complaint and Lucifer blinked and looked over to see what was going on. He chuckled lightly when he realized he just almost hit the cat with his wing. “Sorry, Abel,” he called over to the cat, who strolled away to find a nice spot in the shadows.

Cain returned to his work as he glimpsed something on the ground between the beehives. There was a bright pink feather lying on the ground, possibly a remaint from Lucifer’s molt, even when Cain couldn’t really explain how it landed here without him noticing it earlier. The bees seemed to like the bright pink feather, they flew around it in inspection, landed and crawled over it, until it was covered by their black and yellow bodies. The air was filled with buzzing as Cain kneeled down to have a closer look. The feather and the bees built a metaphor, they became the perfect embodiment of their love, the love of the devil and the father of murder and still bees where interested in the feather, just like the growing feeling of peace within their lives. Bees were feared for their stings, just as Cain and Lucifer were feared for what they were, but actually bees will only attack if they don't see another way out, and even the first murderer and the devil have their soft sides. Cain looked back at his little family, the angel he had fallen in love with so long ago and now had found him again, and the small cat watching them both from the shadows, a little ray of joy in their lives, and he was happy. 

 


	10. Fanart & Thank You's

First things first, the fanart! The wonderful Juli (aka [osnaart](https://osnaart.tumblr.com/)) drew me this gorgeous art for my story. 

 

I'd like to thank [Jo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fallenangel_Winchester/pseuds/Fallenangel_Winchester) for helping me out and inspiring me whenever I was stuck with the story,  

Alex (aka [iamkathastrophe](https://iamkathastrophe.tumblr.com/)) for beta-ing part of the story, 

and of course, Juli for the beautiful art.

 

The last thank you goes to you, dear reader, for making it to the last chapter. 

I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Thank you!! :)


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